. igor, back to more serious stuff we ought to be talking about. sojohnboehnerissaying hey we can have -- we can find some common ground here and republicans are quick to say yeah, let's follow the boehner thing. when you look at what boehner is saying about how to avoid the fiscal cliff he's not saying we're going to agree with president obama on anything yet right? >> not yet. at least publicly, he's just reheating the old romney proposal which is if you close deductions, that's where you get your revenue. not from letting the high end tax cuts expire. the high-end tax cuts expire. what obama had been campaigning on and what voters want overwhelmingly. so you know, the administration has actually been fairly optimistic about where boehner is and negotiating with boehner and negotiating maybe with some of the rank and file who are more likely to come to an agreement. maybe go into the senate. and doing this very publicly. they're meeting with a lot of groups with labor groups, with business groups and they've

seem to be moving closer to a key sticking point. >>speakerboehnerseemedto suggest that he was open to closing loopholes, to real tax reform. can you get there by just closing loopholes, or will it take more than that? >> well, look, i don't want to prejudge the discussions. i think that the speaker's comments have been encouraging and there is obviously money to be gained by closing some of these, closing some of these loopholes and applying them to deficit reduction. there are a lot of ways to skin this cat. gregg: illinois congressman peter roskam joins us. he is on the house ways and means committee. he joins us from chicago. good to see you. house speaker boehner says he will oppose any increase in tax rates. and the white house said on friday, and i will read this directly, the president will veto any bill that includes an extension of the current tax rates for those earning more than $250,000 a year. so congressman, where is the come promize? >> i think the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. we've heard this language coming from the white house before. we hea

boehnerhasa big task ahead of him. can the house speaker pull the gop together and try to make a deal with the president on the fiscal cliff as jay leno was talking about. should he? should a deal be made? a fair and balanced debate is coming up. lots of talk how the united states will eventually be world's top oil producer. that is what some say. there are questions why it is taking so long. those stories and breaking news all "happening now." jenna: well, it is a little unbelievable, but there is lot of twists and turns in this scandal we've been following so closely surrounding former cia chief and now others. hi, everybody. glad to have you with us. i'm jenna lee. rick: happy tuesday. i'm rick folbaum in for jon. controversy over the timeline of events over the petraeus investigation with members of congress wanting to know why the fbi didn't notify them and the white house until just recently when it began months ago. that investigation far from over. fbi searching the home of petraeus's alleged mistress, paula broadwell. after david petraeus resigned his post as america's top sp